


Mike's Story

by SkyDancerr



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Emotional, F/M, Heavy Angst, Mike Wheeler Loves Eleven | Jane Hopper, Post-Season/Series 03, just because you want drama, mike wheeler does not deserve hate, stop hating on him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 21:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19710025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyDancerr/pseuds/SkyDancerr
Summary: Mike Wheeler learned a lot in the past few days.





	Mike's Story

**Author's Note:**

> People are SERIOUSLY hating on Mike? Yes, Mike lied to El, and he screwed up. Yes, Mike sort of deserved the attitude he got from El. But he was never a BAD character. He was nothing but loving to El the whole season. He protected her, and he saved her from dying twice. Over the season, he learned that he needed to give El space sometimes and that she maybe needed some girl time. But he admitted that AND he apologized to her. He also only wanted her to not use her powers all the time because he wanted to keep her safe. And look where she ended up? Without her powers. Turns out he was right all along. He loves, protects, cherishes, and understands El more than anyone, so people should seriously stop hating on him for no reason when he had so much great character development and was just a great character overall. Thank you for listening to my talk.
> 
> Here's a story dedicated to one Mike Wheeler.

**In the beginning, he was happy.**

He had El. He had his friends. And he had his family. And they were free of Demogorgons and Mind Flayers and bad men and the lab. He was just ultimately happy.

Every day over the past 6 months, he had savored every moment he got with El. He got to learn so much about her: her likes, her dislikes, her pet peeves, how she learned. They explored kissing, too, leveling up to more than one each time they got a moment alone. 

He also learned that he loved her. It was scary and he sometimes tried to forget about it because it was hard to not admit it aloud. But he loved her. A lot.

But he let his love for her overrule his relationships with everyone else. He never played D&D with The Party anymore. He barely had dinner with his family. He didn't help Will feel a part of The Party again or welcome Dustin back in the way he should've.

He wasn't aware of this. He was, in a way, kind of blinded by the want to spend every second with El. It wasn't on purpose, and he wasn't aware of how it affected the people around him.

Mike wasn't the kind of person to hurt the people around him. Especially not intentionally. He had a kind heart, and everyone knew that. While being kind of dorky and a bit of a smartass, he still cared deeply for his loved ones.

But he was happy. He was so happy. He had El, and he could hold her and kiss her and talk to her whenever he wanted to. 

After the talk he got from Hopper, everything went downhill.

He was _mortified_ after he got out of Hopper's cruiser, his shoulders tense as he ran the words of the Cheif through his head. It'd been downright scary to listen to his girlfriend's dad threaten to separate them.

So he'd down some stupid things, out of fear, and lied to his girlfriend twice in the span of three minutes. And friends. don't. lie.

And when he'd tried to fix it by buying her gifts, which he realized later is not really the way to El's heart, she'd seen him at the mall.

 _AT THE MALL_.

He was furious at Max for bringing her there. She was supposed to stay safe in Hopper's cabin, where no one could see her. And Max had brung her to the busiest-fucking-place there was in Hawkins.

All he wanted was for her to be safe.

But then, his worry was replaced with absolute despair when El got mad at him for lying, then said right to his face that she dumped his ass.

It didn't really hit that they were broken up until he was at his house later that day, in the basement with Will and Lucas. 

It hit him that his girlfriend, whom he'd spent six months with every single day, had just broken up with him. And for some reason, he didn't cry. He was more in shock. So he just ranted with the boys instead. It helped.

But it didn't take him long to regret it. It didn't take him long to miss her so much it hurt.

He kept it inside. He didn't show how miserable he was to the guys. He sat at the table in his basement and suffered through D&D while all he wanted to do was sit in the blanket fort-that still stood in the corner of his basement-and mope.

Then he'd gotten mad at Will. Yes, Will had called El stupid and that had really set Mike off. But he shouldn't have yelled at Will, and he regretted it right away. Will was one of his best friends. He loved him and he'd never meant to hurt his feelings.

So he'd gone to his house to apologize. Then he'd watched Will breakdown in the downpour of rain, deep in the woods. 

**In the middle, he was terrified.**

After attempting to explain to El why he'd lied in the first place, and she'd thrown in his face the species comment, admitting that she'd spied on him, then told him she made her own rules before leaving the room, he'd felt a bit worse.

He was frustrated that she had spied on him, but his sadness about their breakup got a little worse when she didn't listen to his explanation. He didn't blame her and he wasn't mad at her. It would take a lot for him to be mad at her.

He just wanted his El back.

But he would have to wait. They had more pressing matters at hand. So he left the storage room to continue their task of locking Billy in the sauna.

He thought their plan would work. He really did. And he had hope when he watched Billy sweat fiercely in the blistering heat. But he could see Max slowly breaking down. And he could hear Billy begging her to help him.

And then, in a blur, the glass was broken, and all hell broke loose. He watched El, of course, step up use her powers to fight Billy; to do what the sauna hadn't.

But then he, along with the rest of The Party, watched as Billy grabbed her neck and started to choke her.

Mike stood there in shock, watching El choke, losing her breath. It was the most horrific sight he'd ever seen. 

So he grabbed the thing nearest him and hit Billy right in the head with it. He knew he wasn't strong enough to save her, knew he was lanky and the opposite of strong, but hell, he was going to use all he had to save his love.

He watched in relief as Billy dropped El to the floor, but then Billy was grabbing Mike's weapon. Before he knew it, El was saving him once again, and wow, he loved her so much and could never do as much for her as she did for him.

Then she flung Billy from the room with her maximum strength, then had sunk against Mike, just deflating into him, and he held her for a moment, savoring the feeling of her in his arms and reminding himself that she was okay.

He'd been so close to losing her.

Then, they were at his house again. She was in the bathroom with Max, who was cleaning her up. Mike pushed away the jealousy budding in his chest as he thought about when in that same bathroom, he'd been doing the same thing. Now she was doing it with Max.

It was stupid, though. It was fine for El to have Max, and he was starting to realize that.

But he wanted to talk to her again. He wanted to start to make things okay again. He hated feeling so far from her. He wanted to see her smile again. He wanted to hold her again. 

But he was going to be there for her. He was going to show her that he loved her, just without words. He would stay by her side and hold her when she needed it. And maybe letting her do things with someone other than him was what she needed to feel stronger.

He would never stop being there for her. Even if they were broken up.

It still sucked to wait for her outside of the bathroom; to hear her whisper with Max. 

_It's okay,_ he reminded himself, _she needs this_.

Then, there was the time in the hospital. He'd stood at the vending machine, looking at her with awe and pain, because he missed her so much and just wanted to talk to her. Lucas noticed, and gave Mike his moment.

He'd given her M&Ms, and with his light joking, she'd finally smiled at him again, and he'd never felt happier. Then they'd sat, quietly chewing on the chocolate candies, with Mike feeling like he'd finally gotten somewhere.

That day, he watched her fight so many times. He watched her throw Billy, but also attack the monster in the halls of the hospital. She was so strong and he admired her for it. He'd never get over how powerful his El was.

The next day was the hardest.

In the cabin, he waited for her to come out of her bedroom. He didn't like that she was using so much of her powers. He knew how much using them drained her, and she'd used them so much that he was starting to worry.

He was only worried about her well-being, but he'd lost it when Max took it as him trying to be a control freak over her.

So he'd fought with Max because she needed to know that he wasn't always an asshole. He loved El. All he wanted was for her to be safe. And he wanted to her be treated like a human.

For years, she was treated like a weapon. Those bastards at the lab had just used her for themselves like she wasn't a human being. The last thing he wanted to do was treat her the same way she'd been treated back then.

But she wasn't there anymore. She was human, and she should be treated like that. Mike wasn't going to treat her like a weapon or machine that they could just use for themselves. They couldn't use her powers as if they didn't affect El's health.

So he told them all to stop. He told them to come up with a new plan. And he'd admitted his love for her. In front of everyone.

And when El emerged, he prayed to God she hadn't heard what he'd said.

Later, when knelt down and told her she didn't have to go into the void and look for Billy, he'd made the decision to let her decide something for herself.

If she wanted to go, that was her choice. She was her own person. He wasn't going to make decisions for her. And those eyes, when she'd told him she needed him to trust her, he'd broken down a bit, because her eyes always got him.

So he'd sat back and watched her. He'd watched as she started crying; as her nose started dripping blood. He watched as she started to panic, and he so badly wanted to pull her out of that stupid place.

Then she'd ripped off the blindfold and screamed, before melting into his arms again, sobbing and shaking. He'd never seen her so scared before, and it hurt. It hurt so bad. And he wished she hadn't needed to go to the void and see that.

Seeing her in pain like that sucked. And it was like he felt it too. He felt so connected to her that he felt what she felt. He just wanted to protect her and take the pain and fear away, but he couldn't, and he felt so helpless.

He wanted it all to be over.

But no. The mind flayer had other plans.

She'd fought the mind flayer, stepping in after she'd watched from the sidelines and seen Jonathan and Nancy try to kill it with no prevail. She stepped back out to save everyone yet again, and he loved her for that, but he hated seeing it.

He hated watching the monster try to grab her. He hated seeing her struggle to keep it under control. He hated watching the blood drip from her nose as she used all of her strength.

Then, he'd watched in horror as after she'd sliced the mind flayer's claws off with her powers, as she was grabbed by the leg and pulled into the air by that stupid, evil thing. And Mike hadn't hesitated to grab her arms.

His heart was thumping out of his chest as he used all of his strength to pull her back to him, to save her. He watched as she cried and screamed in pain. It was official, _that_ took place as the most horrific thing he'd seen.

He was close to losing her a second time. And he was struggling to pull her down, so the rest of the gang started teaming up to help pull her arms. Mike tried to stay strong and not let his emotions take over as he watched the love of his life almost get yanked away from him as she screamed in pain.

Lucas used the ax to cut the mind flayer's arm, and she finally was in Mike's arms as he rolled to the floor. He swallowed his tears as he looked at her face, brushing away her hair and he made sure she was okay.

Then he'd had to yank that stupid claw out of her leg, and it was the hardest thing to do, especially when she screamed in pain. It was one of the scariest moments in his life.

They'd gone to the store after that, and he'd finally gotten a moment with her. He needed to tell her his true feelings and tell her he was sorry. She needed to know.

He'd gotten her to smile again. And he'd also apologized. He admitted how scared he was and how much he had wanted to keep her to himself. He admitted to her that he liked that seh and Max were friends, showing her that he thought it was a good thing.

And he said he was sorry. Finally. Because he was. He was so sorry.

He was sorry for lying. He was sorry for being jealous. He was sorry for being an ass. He was sorry for trying to keep her to himself. 

At that moment, all he wanted was for her to know. He wanted to know how much he cared for her and that he was sorry for everything. 

He'd even almost admitted his feelings. If it weren't for Dustin, he would have. He wanted her to know. He didn't know what was going to happen, so he wanted her to know the ture depth of his feelings for her.

It brought him back to that moment in the cafeteria when he'd attempted to tell her he liked her. It was just as hard and he was brought back to that moment in 1983. That moment that changed everything.

She even looked at him the same way she had back then. It made his heart feel like bursting.

He'd gotten the girl.

He'd said he was sorry, he'd showed her how much he cared, and now it was time to admit his feelings. It was time to tell her he loved her.

But she'd been confused because he'd led up to it in the most stupid way possible. Of course she didn't understand. But he was scared and not thinking straight and the way she was looking at him was making his heart soar and he loved her so fucking much.

He was so close, but then Dustin had decided to call at that moment.

He'd lost his chance.

Later, he'd heard her fall to the ground. Then he'd had to hold her as he watched, in absolute horror, as Jonathan cut open her leg. It was scary and horrible and he swore he felt it when her skin was cut.

She was a wreck, after all of that, but he still watched her with love. He still loved her so much, especially after watching her fight so much, not just for them but for herself. She gave so much, and he loved her for that.

She was still the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

But then her powers were gone.

They were gone, just like he knew would happen.

He knew she could fight without them. He knew she was still just as amazing and powerful without them.

But he'd been right all along.

He'd stand by her side, though. He'd be there for her every step of the way. They'd come out of the battle safe and together and they'd live life happily again.

Fate had other plans.

They'd gotten separated, and he'd never felt so scared when Billy appeared before he was thrown to the ground, and everything was black.

After waking up and running with Max to the main area, he'd seen El sitting on the floor, looking terrified and broken. He'd slid to the floor, his eyes filling with tears as she sobbed his name and whimpered, "are you okay?" into his ear. He'd held her to him, savroing her warmth and wrapping his arms around her, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

He didn't know what was going to happen next. He didn't know what the future held. He didn't know if they'd make it out alive.

So he'd take this moment and keep it tucked in his heart for eternity.

**In the end, he was broken.**

He'd watched her break down in tears in the parking lot, after the battle was over and they'd won.

But they hadn't. Not at all.

He'd run over to her, asking her what was wrong. And he was shocked when he'd heard what happened. That Hopper had died.

So he held the broken girl in his arms, as they sat on the cold pavement of the parking lot. He'd held her close as she cried and cried, his arms around her and her head in the crook of his neck. He cried along with her, at some point.

They'd stayed like that for what felt like forever.

Then, three months later, she was leaving him.

She was leaving him. Again.

He'd said he couldn't lose her, and now here he was.

He would still be in contact with her. It wasn't like last time. But it almost felt the same.

She'd told him she loved him. He'd stood there, utterly shocked as she pressed soft kisses to his lips before leaving the room. 

She loved him.

She loved him back.

After all they'd gone through, after all they'd gotten thrown their way, they'd ended up here. But the one good thing was she loved him.

She loved him.

So he'd held her, one last time, in the Byers' driveway. He'd wrapped his arms around her and pressed his forehead to hers as he held back his hot tears that threatened to spill. He had to be strong for her. He had to be.

He'd whispered he loved her, knowing he needed to say it, but also that she needed to hear it. And her eyes filled with tears as she said it right back.

Then he'd let go of her, and he watched her get into that moving truck. And he watched the love of his life drive away from him.

Again.

He was in pain. He was sad, mad, devastated, annoyed, and close to tears as he looked back at the house behind him, sitting on his bike. He swallowed back his tears as he turned around and biked after Lucas, Max, and Dustin.

Mike Wheeler learned a lot in just those few days.

He learned that you shouldn't lie to your girlfriend, despite her scary dad.

He learned that sometimes he needed to share, even though he needed her and was deeply attached to her.

He learned that sometimes you needed to let people decide things for themselves, even if it worried you.

He learned that El was more powerful then he'd ever thought, and though it scared him, sometimes she needed to use them to save everyone's asses.

But most of all, he learned that love wasn't just about hugging or kissing or spending time together. It was also about needing each other. It was also about saving each other. It was also about being each other's rocks. 

And it was also about letting someone go, seeing someone leave.

And, despite her being away. Despite feeling the string tied between them grow taught, he knew they'd be okay.

He wasn't losing her.

He would _never_ lose her.

Because their love went above all.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually really proud of this, huh. Sorry it's long!
> 
> Thinking about the ending Mileven had this season makes me want to cry every time, damn.
> 
> In this fic, I wanted to show that Mike isn't always perfect. He's not going to be the perfect boyfriend. He messed up, but he fixed it. His love for El was evident the whole season, and it blew me away. He was never a bad character. Ever. And I wanted to showcase that. I wanted to showcase all of the good he did for El in season 3. Because he was her rock and her comfort, despite the circumstances.
> 
> Mike Wheeler is one of the best characters. That's it.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading!


End file.
